A Little Later
by MiraculousOtterGirl
Summary: Adrien took a little too long to come clean to Marinette about the gum incident. Before he had time to work up the courage and explain his innocence, Marinette fell for a knight in black leather and Adrien developed a crush on the cute, but stubborn girl sitting behind him. Switched Crush AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys so I had this story idea for a while, and after starting Season 2, I decided to come back to it.**

 **Summary: Adrien took a little too long to come clean to Marinette about the gum incident. Before he had time to work up the courage and explain his innocence, Marinette fell for a knight in black leather, and Adrien developed a crush on the cute, but stubborn girl sitting behind him.**

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 **Chapter 1: A Real Hothead**

Adrien didn't know how this had gone so wrong, he hadn't even done anything. It had all been Chloe, she was the one who put the gum on the seat and yet the glare from the blue haired girl seemed to always be on him. It had been two weeks now and he just couldn't seem to fix things with Marinette. He knew he should just talk to her and explain that he was trying to help, but every time he tried to talk to her, she would either pretend to not notice him or leave before he even got a chance to try.

His thoughts ceased as the sound of an explosion rang throughout the school. Everyone rushed through the door in a panic, some trying to find a place to hide, while others wanted to catch front row seats to the action filled afternoon entertainment.

 _There must be an akuma_ , Adrien thought to himself. _I need to find somewhere to change quickly, this one seems pretty destructive._ He looked around frantically for a second until he found a small supply closet with the door slightly cracked open. It seemed that the custodian had been getting supplies before the attack and had been too distracted to lock the room after he ran out.

Adrien slipped into the room cautiously making sure that no one was watching him as he entered. When he was inside and the door was firmly closed, a tiny black cat-like creature flew out of his shirt pocket smelling very strongly of Camembert cheese.

"Plagg I need to transform before this gets out of hand," Adrien said to the kwami who was still rubbing his eyes after the nap he had evidently just awoken form.

"I think I might need some cheese first, that nap really took a lot out of me." The kwami responded finishing with a yawn.

"We don't have time for this! I gave you plenty of cheese during lunch which is what made you so full you had to sleep it off, remember?" A loud boom echoed through the walls and Adrien called out, "Plagg- Claws out!" In a flash of green the teenager appeared again only this time wearing a black mask and a skin tight leather cat suit.

Chat Noir darted out of the room following the sounds of shrieks and screams into the science lab. It seemed that the room was empty with the exception of two people. One was his partner, Ladybug, looking courageous and strong as she threw her yo-yo at her target trying to tangle the akuma up. The other was the akuma himself. The akuma was mostly normal looking the only thing that really set him apart was the purple shadow covering his face and the fact that his hair was actually on fire.

"Is it hot in here or is just me?" Chat Noir said jokingly to his partner who laughed quietly at his attempt at lightening the mood. The next second they had to dodge apart as the akuma threw a fire ball at the both of them. When it missed the akuma's hair seemed to get hotter as the blue section grew slightly. He threw another fireball, this time Chat Noir took out his baton and hit the oncoming inferno like a baseball. "Looks like we have ourselves a purrrdicament here. Any ideas Ladybug?"

Ladybug looked around the room swiftly and her eyes landed on the fire extinguisher by the door. The only problem was that she would have to get close to the akuma, who was in the front of the room, to reach it. "Cover me!" She yelled to her partner who simply nodded and started waving his hands around to catch the akuma's attention.

"Hey hot stuff! Look over here! I bet I'm hotter than you I mean, seriously check out these muscles!" At this Chat Noir started using his baton like a saber attacking swiftly and effectively but unfortunately his fencing skills were not enough to keep the akuma from hitting him with a ball of flame which caused him to hesitate in his attack and allowed his opponent to knock him into a wall momentarily stunning him.

Luckily for him, Ladybug had reached the fire extinguisher and was just finishing reading the instructions when the akuma turned to find her. She squeezed her eyes shut and blew the white foam that doused his flame to barely a flicker before the canister ran dry, this gave Ladybug a chance to check on her partner. He was in pretty rough shape from the burn and probable concussion, but he was able to get to his feet. It was clear, however that this fight needed to end soon. She looked closely at the akuma and suddenly her eyes focused on his hand where he held a crumpled paper in his hand that looked like it had been singed.

"Chat! It's in his hand, we have to get that paper." Chat Noir nodded at her but it was apparent that his previous injuries were getting to him. Ladybug realized he probably wouldn't be able to help her too much from that point on so she threw her yo-yo up and called out, "Lucky Charm!" When the glitter cleared away, a hose fell into her hand. A hose? There was nowhere to connect one!

She looked around frantically. The akuma's flame had grown once more and he had started to sending fireballs again. She dodged one and came face to face with the safety shower used to wash off harmful chemicals, she had an idea. "Chat, I need you to cataclysm the eye wash station!" She said quickly to her partner.

Without hesitation he yelled out, "Cataclysm!" He swiped at the eyewash station, as it crumbled into nothing, it revealed a water connection that Ladybug would be able to connect the hose to.

The akuma continued attacking, realizing that Ladybug needed time to fix the hose to the spigot Chat Noir attempted to grab their opponent's attention. Despite his attempts it appeared that the akuma had learned its lesson the last time and could not be distracted by the cat hero. The akuma focused and created a bigger fireball than it ever had and threw it hard and fast towards Ladybug who was still turned around working on getting the hose properly fixed to the water source.

Chat Noir tried to call out a warning but it was too late, he had to act or his partner wouldn't be able to return everything to normal. Without a second thought he leapt in front of the oncoming ball of flame. Ladybug, finally finished with her task, turned around as she heard Chat cry out in agonizing pain.

She knew that the sooner she got that paper the less pain her partner would be in so she forced herself not to look at him. Her heart constricted as she thought of her partner willingly sacrificing himself to protect her.

Ladybug turned on the hose and blasted the akuma with water. She continued spraying him until the flame had completely disappeared. She then walked forward and pulled the paper from his sopping wet hand as he cursed her trying to form a fire ball. She looked at the paper briefly and immediately ripped it to shreds. All of this pain and destruction over a bad grade on a chemistry lab? She quickly captured the akuma and released a beautiful white butterfly, trying to hurry the process as much as possible. She could hear Chat Noir in the back of the room breathing heavily and trying to keep quiet about his pain.

Finally she yelled out, "Miraculous Ladybug!" As everything returned to normal she quickly hurried to her partner whose wound began to quickly heal. In less than a minute he was up on his feet saying he had to go before their transformations fell. Ladybug stopped him before he was able to sprint out of the room. She hugged him tightly, tears running down her face. "You saved me, if you hadn't taken that hit I'd be a pile of ash right now." She finally whispered to him.

"You're my partner, I've always got your back." He responded with an easy grin. He then turned and ran through the door to find a place to change.

Marinette stared after her partner's retreating figure, feeling her face heating up to unbearable temperatures and her heart starting to beat a little farther.

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 **Thanks for reading! Please leave a review!**

 **~M**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for all the sweet reviews, and to all those who decided to follow and favorite this story. I was honestly shocked at the response. You guys are amazing! (Or should I say "Miraculous";)) I'm going to try my best to post a chapter every week, but I am a college student and I do have a job so I may not always be right on schedule, I will however do my best!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Miraculous Ladybug and Chat Noir.**

 **Chapter 2: When the Truth Comes Out**

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The day after the flaming akuma attack was the day that Adrien finally found the courage to talk to Marinette. He had almost died the day before and he needed to tell her the truth, he didn't want to think of her always hating him for something he had nothing to do with. So before school he waited for her outside. He was determined to fix this, but when the bell rang at five minutes to 8 she had yet to walk up the steps. He sighed dejectedly and began making his way to class. He would have to talk to her at lunch. About twenty minutes into their lesson, Marinette came running, out of breath, into the room. Her cheeks were flushed and her pigtails were uneven making it look like she had put them up in a hurry.

The professor decided to ignore her for the most part, just making a comment on the importance of punctuality. Marinette blushed and tripped over her own feet as she tried to hastily get to her seat. She picked herself up and finally sat down behind him. Adrien tried to ignore her, he really did, but he couldn't help himself from turning around to look at her multiple times the lesson. He couldn't stop himself from smiling as he thought of her disheveled appearance and that ever present blush on her pale cheeks. And whenever he thought of her blush, couldn't help but think of her beautiful bluebell eyes. And just like that Adrien was enveloped in a sweet cloud of daydreams starring his classmate.

Adrien's seat mate and friend, Nino, noticed the love struck smile that had suddenly appeared on his neighbors face, and could hardly hold back his snicker. He knew that look. That was the Marinette Dupain-Cheng look. Nino recognized it from his own time longing for the designer, his attention had since moved on to Alya as they had more in common.

Nino quickly scribbled a note and discreetly pushed it to his friend. Adrien picked up the note with a not so inconspicuous look to make sure the teacher was still busy reading from the book at the front of the room. Nino internally chuckled at his new friend's lack of familiarity with normal school things.

Adrien quickly unfolded the scrap of paper. In messy handwriting it read, ' _Have you talked to Marinette yet?'_ Adrien frowned at this and shook his head. He wrote back in his neat, practiced cursive, ' _Lunch.'_

Nino read the response and mouthed "Good Luck," before they both returned to their assignments.

After what seemed like an eternity the bell rang and they were released for lunch.

Lunch. Adrien cringed at the thought of finally confronting her but he knew that he had to. He summoned up some of his Chat Noir persona and stopped her before she could exit the classroom.

"Hey Marinette," And suddenly Adrien found himself lost in the blue oceans that were Marinette Dupain-Cheng's eyes. "I w-was hoping we could talk for a min-minute." He hoped his stutter hadn't been too obvious but he knew his face had turned an absolutely breathtaking shade of red if the heat he was feeling on his face was an indication.

Marinette looked like she was going to deny him for a moment but then sighed in defeat as she agreed to at least listen to the model. She told her friend, Alya, that she would meet up with her in a few, then turned towards the blond.

"Ok Adrien, what do you want? We already have Chloe, we really don't need a new bully in our class and,-"Adrien cut off Marinette's rant as it appeared that there was a lot more of it coming. "Look Marinette, I didn't put the gum on your chair. It was Chloe who did it! I was really just trying to take it off!" He pleaded with her hoping she would hear the truth in his words.

Marinette looked at Adrien in surprise, this was not how she thought this was going to go. She thought back to the incident and realized he could be telling the truth. Marinette felt terrible for the way she had been treating the new student because of this confusion, she had to make it up to him.

Adrien watched with bated breath as the girl with the pretty blue eyes judged his story. After what felt like an eternity she smiled at him. "I believe you, why don't we start over?" She then pivoted, nearly causing herself to fall over in her haste, and faced him with a giant smile on her face and her hand outstretched towards him. "Hello, my name is Marinette, I am so very glad to meet you!" She managed to giggle out. Adrien blushed even redder and extended his own hand to her. "I'm Adrien pleased to make your acquaintance."

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When Adrien arrived at home he immediately flopped on his bed with a huge smile lighting up his face. "I did it Plagg, I finally talked to Marinette! She doesn't hate me!" The cat-like kwami flew out from his hiding spot in Adrien's bag; immediately flying to the secret stash of cheese his chosen had for him.

He was secretly very proud of his kitten, but what kind of cat would be if he showed that? So instead he simply said. "I need more Camembert." Adrien didn't let the kwami's supposed sour mood bother him, just laughed and agreed to get him more.

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 **Awwww! Awkward Adrien is my favorite, he such a cute kitten!**

 **Please review and follow for more chapters!**

 **~M**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi everybody! I've been enjoying writing this story so much I think I will actually be able to keep on schedule! (Fingers crossed I didn't just jinx it) Thank you to all of those who have reviewed, followed, and favorited this story. I really appreciate the support and it has made writing this much more fun and exciting.**

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Chapter 3- A Trip to the Zoo

Marinette sighed as she once again looked through the Ladyblog for any new pictures of Chat Noir. There weren't any of course, as this was her eighth check in the last two or so hours, but she couldn't help herself form checking. This was such a disaster she had only been a superhero for a few weeks and she had already developed a pretty serious crush on her wisecracking partner. She couldn't help but think back to that day, a few days prior, when Chat Noir had literally risked his life for her.

"Tikki, what am I going to do? He's my partner!" Marinette whined out to her kwami. "I'm going to see him, and he's gonna be there, and I'm probably just gonna fall off a building and then I'll explode because why not?" The anxious teen then buried her head in a pillow. Tikki smiled indulgently at her newest chosen.

"It's ok to have a crush, Marinette. You just have to be extra careful to stay focused when you are fighting. You can't let yourself get distracted." Tikki made sure she emphasized that she stay focused because she had known Marinette for long enough to know that the girl had a tendency to get side tracked and it usually ended up on slightly bizarre ending tangents.

The teenager was somewhat comforted, but worried that she wouldn't be able to act in the same confident manner that people expected of Ladybug. Tikki wasn't as worried though, Marinette was an excellent Ladybug. She may have been nervous going out for her first time, but since then she had become a wonderfully strong hero and a great role model. Tikki did not believe Marinette would ever risk harming others, so she would learn to deal with it, as her predecessors had. Not to mention if it ever got too bad, Tikki could have a minor effect on her chosen's emotions, it would be enough to calm her if things got too bad. She already used it in high stress battles so that Ladybug would be able to think clearly in the midst of all the chaos, but she decided not to mention this to her charge.

Suddenly Marinette's phone began to ring, startling the duo. Marinette clumsily picked up her phone almost dropping it in the process. Without looking at the caller ID she answered the call.

"Hey, girl! My sisters want to go to the zoo and I could really use an extra hand. Wanna come?" She heard her best friend say. Marinette thought about it for a second, she did have quite a bit of homework and she did want to start on a new design, but she could use a little time with her best friend. "Sure, let's meet there!"

With that they said their goodbyes and Marinette started to get ready. She took a second to fix her hair and straighten her jacket. She grabbed her purse and put in a few chocolate chip cookies for Tikki then rushed down the stairs, before guiltily returning for said kwami. After Tikki wass comfortably munching on cookies in her bag, she walked downstairs and kissed her parents on the cheek before heading out to meet Alya.

When she reached the zoo, she immediately found the Cèsaire's. They weren't hard to find as the twins were darting around the entrance rapidly pointing to all the animals that they were going to see, while their older sister chased them trying to get them under control.

"Marinette!" Alya called over when she spotted the blunette making her way towards the group. The twins briefly stopped their chaos to say hello to Marinette who was always nice to them, she always brought them treats form the bakery. When she reached for the gifts, Alya stopped her. "Do not give them anything containing sugar. They got into the cookie jar earlier today and they are way over their limit. That's why you're here to help me contain this sugar rush." At Alya's words the twins had the decency to look the slightest bit guilty, but it didn't last.

After their brief feeling of remorse they were off to their over excited rushing around again. Marinette and Alya made eye contact and made a silent agreement. They each grabbed a twin and walked into the zoo.

They walked around the zoo, laughing as the girls tried to imitate the animals in the exhibits. They were on their way to the zebras when they noticed a large crowd gathered around the enclosure. Curious they made their way over and found the excitement was a photoshoot for Gabriel Agreste's newest line- Wild Nights.

Inside was their classmate, Adrien, posing with very uninterested looking wildlife. They watched for a few minutes as the zookeepers and photographer attempted to get the zebras to cooperate. They tried waving their arms and shouting, even tempting them with food, but the animals remained steadfast in their apathy. Finally the photographer stormed off, claiming she could not work in these conditions, with such uncooperative subjects.

Adrien was embarrassed with all the eyes on him, the outfit he was wearing, a modern take on safari gear, felt absolutely ridiculous and he had already taken what felt like five hundred pictures. Nathalie came over to tell him that they were done for the day because by the time the photographer finished her rant the lighting would be all wrong. Adrien couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped his lips.

He ran a hand through his styled hair, grimacing at the product that his stylist had used. He began making his way to the restroom to change when he felt a small body crash into his legs. He waved his arms around quickly trying to regain his center, but it was no use. He was going down and as his luck, which tended to be bad, would have it he wasn't going down alone. He was taking someone with him. He fell on top of the poor bystander. When he looked down at the figure tight in his arms he found Marinette. He was so shocked he couldn't move or utter an apology all he could do was stare.

Marinette looked up at her rescuer and found Adrien. She smiled and said, "Hi Adrien, sorry that you fell. I accidently let Alya's sister loose." There was no response, just his blushing face. She began to feel a little awkward practically laying in his arms so she suggested that they should probably stand up.

Realizing how long he had been basically laying on top her he released her joltingly, stuttering out an apology. Marinette giggled as she stood. "Would you like to join us, Adrien?" He was about to respond that he would, in fact, very much like to join them, but a scream suddenly sounded off in the distance.

Adrien sighed internally and responded swiftly, "I would but I, uh, have to go home right now and, uh, practice piano, sorry Marinette!" Marinette hearing the scream simply nodded and replied, "I should probably go and, uh, see that, uh, cow over there, yeah, that's what I wanna see. A cow. I love cows. They go moo!" Adrien was fairly certain the zoo did not have any cows but he also was in a hurry so he just nodded and answered, "Cows are neat, I like how they eat a lot, have fun." Before running off berating himself for his own strange comments.

Marinette would have been hitting herself at such a ridiculous, blatant lie, if it wasn't for the fact that her heart was racing at the thought that she was very likely to see Chat Noir for the first time since she had acknowledged her crush. She sprinted to the bathroom and hands shaking, opened her purse. Tikki flew out and immediately began trying to comfort her nervous Ladybug. "You'll be okay, Marinette. Just be yourself. You can do this!" Marinette took a deep breath and whisper-yelled, "Spots On!"

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 **Next chapter we will have an akuma attack! Any guesses on who it will be?**

 **I'm debating whether I should play around with events from the show or keep making up my own situations, like including certain akuma victims or situations that happened. Please let me know what you think on this, or if you have anything you'd really like to see. Feedback will be greatly appreciated!**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter please review. I have already started on the next chapter so I should have it up kinda soonish.**

 **Have a miraculous week! See you next time,**

 **~M**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys sorry this is late, but I've had a very hectic week! Not to mention I rewrote this close to 4 times, because I wasn't happy with how it came out. Anyway thanks for all the love and support!**

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A Stony Encounter

When Ladybug reached the scene she saw a collection of statues. There was a couple leaning in for a kiss with their eyes shut tight, a child petting a large lion while it pressed into the small hand, and even some young men imitating some monkeys, while the monkeys imitated the teens. It would have been a really interesting sight to see if the fear in the victim's eyes wasn't so blatant. The smiles on their faces looking forced.

"I am Medusa, come join my exhibit, Ladybug! I shall freeze you in a lovely arrangement of you handing me your Miraculous!" She heard the akumatized victim cackle.

Medusa, she realized, was the photographer who had been at Adrien's shoot. Her once long brown hair was now a coil of vicious looking snakes who seemed ready to snap at anyone who attempted to get close, her skin had taken on a green gray sheen and her camera, which she was slowly lifting up to her face was… suddenly Ladybug felt something knock into her side.

"Don't let her look at you through that camera, Milady! That's how she gets you." She found herself in the arms of her handsome partner. Before she had a moment to acknowledge the blush that had risen on her cheek at being saved by her crush again, Chat Noir spoke, "What do we do?"

Ladybug took a second to examine the circumstances. They would have to reach the camera, without being frozen into stone themselves. "We have to distract her." She decided. "Chat, I need you to get her attention while I make sure everyone's out of her range. Please be careful!" Chat simply saluted and called out to their opponent, "I know we've had a rocky start, but there's no need to throw stones." Ladybug sighed as he bounded off.

She then got to work gathering the crowds and making sure they were hidden before returning to the scene to find her partner continuing to evade Medusa. Medusa was visibly frustrated as Chat would pop in and out of sight before she was able to focus her image.

Ladybug could see her partner was starting to tire, so she used her yo-yo to swing to his hiding place behind a hot dog stand before crying out, "Lucky Charm!" A flashlight fell into her hand.

The sun had not yet gone down, so she looked around in confusion before a solution came to her.

"Kitty we need to get her to come as close as possible and then I need you to cataclysm this stand." It was a testament to either how much Chat Noir trusted his partner or just how insane he was that he willingly began to tease their opponent to get her attention. "Hey Medusa, I don't think you got my good side. Aw who am I kitten, we both know I'm purrfect." The cat superhero then quickly ducked down. As expected the already enraged Medusa rushed over to the heroes hiding place.

When she was a just a few feet away, Ladybug yelled, "Now!" The stand that had served as a barrier immediately crumbled to the ground as Chat's Cataclysm touched it. As soon as it disappeared Ladybug shined the flashlight through the camera lens at the surprised akuma victim. Before Medusa could react to her weapon becoming useless, Chat grabbed the camera throwing it to the ground where the glass lens shattered releasing a purple butterfly.

"No more evil doing for you, little akuma!" Ladybug cried out as she swung her yo-yo to catch the escaping akuma. Once it was released she waved, "Bye, bye little butterfly." Then throwing her yo-yo into the air she called, "Miraculous Ladybug!" and everything began to return to its earlier state. Those that had been encased in stone watched as the rock seemed to melt from their forms. Once the world was right once more the heroes bumped their fists together in celebration. "Pound it!"

Alya who had been hidden behind a bush secretly recording during the event suddenly popped up, and started questioning the shocked superheroes. "Ladybug! Chat Noir! How do you respond to the allegations that you are deeply in love and date in real life? Your fans need to know!" The two teens turned beet red and looked incredibly uncomfortable.

"We're nnnn-not a ccc-couple!" Marinette managed to stutter out, face the same color as her bright red suit. Chat nervously played with his hair, "My Lady is very special to me, but…" At this his ring started frantically beeping reminding him that he only had a short time left before he reverted back to his civilian self he gladly took the opening and sprinted off yelling behind him. "Gotta run, love your blog though!" While Alya gaped at the revelation that Chat Noir read her blog, Ladybug dashed off before she regained her usual self.

A few seconds later Marinette came running from the opposite direction Ladybug had disappeared to. She was huffing and completely out of breath. Alya was still completely in shock from Chat's comment. So much so that, Marinette was forced to shake her friend to get her to focus and stop muttering "He reads it. Maybe Ladybug does too." When she finally broke out of her trance like state she beamed at Marinette. "Can you believe it Mari? Paris' superheroes read my blog!"

"Alya that is amazing and you totally deserve it with all of the time you put into it, but where are your sisters?" Marinette asked concerned. Alya just laughed and responded that when the chaos started the zoo employees had guided them to a play area with a bunch of other kids so they wouldn't panic and get injured. They walked over and quickly spotted the twins playing a game of tag with some other kids.

"Alya!" They cried in unison when they spotted their older sister. "Is it true that there was an akuma who turned people into statues, and that Ladybug and Chat Noir saved everyone, and they made kissy faces at each other and…" At this Marinette gaped at the twins not being able to utter out a word. Luckily for her Alya stepped in and corrected, "They did not make kissy faces. They'd be so cute together though, I mean have you seen the fan art?"

Marinette frantically shook her head, trying not to blush at the implication that people had drawn pictures of her and her kitty like that, but secretly deciding to look it up when she returned to the privacy of her bedroom. "We should go home, it's getting late and we have all that math homework tonight." Alya groaned but took her sisters' hands as they began walking back to their houses.

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 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm going to try to get the next chapter up soon, but we're getting into finals and my schedule is getting more and more packed so don't worry if I take a bit longer, I will be continuing this story!**

 **Please leave me a review with your thoughts! Thanks for reading!**

 **~M**


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